Exploring the Moon—The Apollo Investigations

Abstract

Prior to the first manned landing on the Moon on 20 July 1969, the National Academies of Science, with the support of NASA, established the Lunar Science Institute and a national association of universities, the Universities Space Research Association, to manage the institute. The LSI would be an important organization to support the lunar science community as it undertook the study of the Moon. The first manned landing was also preceded by a series of lunar orbiting satellites and soft landers, the Lunar Orbiter and the Surveyors. Between 1969 and 1972, NASA successfully landed six Apollo spacecraft on the Moon and returned 382 kilograms of lunar soil and rocks for analyses by scientists from around the world. The initial findings included: (1) the Moon was formed about 4.5 billion years ago; (2) the lava in the large basins are of more recent origin; (3) the rocks of the lunar highlands were anorthosites, light in color and weight, containing calcium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen; (4) the lunar rocks were depleted in volatile elements, including water; and (5) the upper layer of the Moon had been molten in the past. Despite these initial discoveries, the question of lunar origin was not settled during the Apollo explorations of the Moon.